Friday, 16 September 2016

Traveling salesmen and pharmacies packed with colorful bottles claimed to have all the medical cures for what ailed you in the 19th century, although the contents of their remedies were more likely to be opiates or snake oil than any scientifically sound healing.

The era of patent medicine was a response to the shortcomings of medicine at the time, which often relied on questionable treatments like bloodletting and purging.